SG-U – Light (1x05) - (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS)

[Islander]

I only gave it a 7 because everything seemed to predictable. I stated that the Destiny would recharge itself watching the preview last week and the second that the shuttle couldn't go back I said out loud "Slingshot manouver". Maybe it's me that is just too familiar with sci-fi shows, but there it is. If it wasn't for that I probably would have given it a 9.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

If anyone's interested, I'm reposting JuanBolio's prediction...

My prediction for next week - the sun is going to recharge the ship, but they won't know that until the last possible second, and in the meantime will be at each other's throats as to who survives and who doesn't. Everyone will be exposed for who they truly are in a life-or-death scenario, as well as who would off who if it came down to it.

You have my word.
(And you have my bow)
(and MY axe)

Not to steal his thunder, but wasn't that all bleeding obvious? Of course that was what was going to happen!

Mr Awe

Yes, it was. However, I wish JuanBolio was right that the situation would expose people for who they truly are. Okay, we got the Lieutenant and Senator's daughter stuff--but that's been hacked over to death. Nothing else truly happened to reveal any depth of character.

And I hate, hate the contrived twist, which really isn't much of one, at the end. Did Rush know or did he not know? It felt like a stamp on the coda, telling the audience, "oh, that Dr. Rush, he's an ambiguous character with some questionable motivations."

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ Yeah, that didn't work for me either. Cheap.

 

[Scout101]

Yeah, that last bit was stupid. And if he DID know more than he let on, wouldn't he have fought harder to keep more of the supplies aboard Destiny, in case the shuttle couldn't make it back to the ship? His decisions make sense without the "bwahaha" evil backdrop, and are really dumb if he knew the ship wasn't going to burn up...

 

[Jenee]

Good change is indeed good...bad changes, not so much. Dreary lighting, jump zooms are aesthetics patented by BSG-yes, Firefly did it first, but FF lasted a meager 13 eps, while Galactica went on to become critically slobbered on (deservedly so for S1), and signature series that put SyPhy on the map for tv people who ignored the genre beforehand...

Not sure if I'm missing your point or not, but, Firefly's meager 13 episodes and relative obscurity is more the fault of Fox's inabilty to 'see a good thing when they've got one' and their total lack of advertising for the show itself - I happened to be home on a Friday night with nothing else to do and was just about to go channel surfing when Firefly first aired. Had I not been home that night, or been on another channel, I would never have known of it's existance.

 

[warriorsfan]

This may sound sexist.... and it is... but...
I'm surprised they didn't pick females because of the fertility factor...

Fertility? You think they were going to have kids? 17 people is not enough to form a sustainable human population. There would be no point in them trying to reproduce and form a permanent colony, unless they wanted to see their children die from lack of medical care and primitive conditions and live horrible lives. It's not like they were the last survivors of humanity or anything and fertility is thus important to them.

 

[1001001]

I gave this one a 9. I liked it a lot.

Sure we knew what was coming. And frankly it's about time people started trusting the ship. But still, the lottery was tense and the goodbye videos were nice.

I have no idea where that Senator's Daughter/Pilot thing came from. Did I miss a scene somewhere?

In any event, I'm enjoying the show for what it is, and look forward to the rest of the season.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I've noticed that a lot of people who ordinarlily take issue with most sex scenes liked the one with Kaylee, but I could never see why that one in particular was the exception. To me they're all pretty much the same.

Maybe because Kaylee completely took charge of that situation. She successfully completed a job interview while putting her clothes back on. There was really no doubt about why she was there----she was using Bester for his engine.

Whereas with this scene, it really felt more like Scott was using Chloe. There was a lot of uncertainty on her part.

I'm hesitant to define my feelings entirely since I'm not sure I understand them, but at a guess, I'd say I'm annoyed at the way female characters who are uncertain about about whether or not to go through with things usually do anyway. If you're not sure, don't!

When the girl clearly and definitively wants things to go a certain way, it's sometimes a different kind of awkward, but it doesn't push my buttons the way this scene did.

My theory has always been that sex for a lot of people is too private and perhaps even undignified, which is why it causes the reactions it does. I've never felt that way, so I've never been able or even willing to dissect sex scenes the way a lot of people do. My mindset is more along the lines of "sit back and enjoy".

I don't consider it a fad. This is what serious drama is today. It won't go away, but it'll evolve. Who knows, maybe it'll turn into something you do like. Whatever happens though is unlikely to happen suddenly with SGU.

It may, as long as SGU is in the right place at the right time. Maybe after a quarter of a century it's not technically a fad anymore, but it still can't last forever; when it reaches the level of self parody that nuBSG represented, it's got to be nearing the end.

I don't think it will "go away" as if it were some kind of scourge that has to be eradicated once and for all. People like it, but they'll undoubtedly want something new once again and like I said, it'll evolve, the same way TV and movies have evolved away from what they were in the 50s and 60s for example.

As Star Trek and other shows have demonstrated, it's quite possible to write adult drama without contrived situations, forced conflicts and adolesent cynicism. I like fun adventure, too, but that's not what I'm talking about; I'm talking about real adult drama, not what a teenager thinks adult drama should be.

I appreciate reading your thoughts on this matter, but I'll be honest, I haven't totally gotten what you've been saying. I get a lot of it, but not all of it, not 100%. Maybe up to 95%, but not 100%. Part of what threw me is when you've referenced Atlantis as being a better drama than BSG. If I were doing television and wanted to put together a good drama, Atlantis is exactly what I'd avoid emulating. It's not a show I'd describe as bad, it just doesn't capture the real world feel that I'd want to see in a serious drama or even the sense of awe that I'd want to see in good televised science fiction.

Oh, and you should check out the 1994 Stargate movie. You'll get to see how the saga began. It's a more serious SG-1 with different actors and a motion picture budget.

 

[Bluesteel]

This may sound sexist.... and it is... but...
I'm surprised they didn't pick females because of the fertility factor...

Fertility? You think they were going to have kids? 17 people is not enough to form a sustainable human population. There would be no point in them trying to reproduce and form a permanent colony, unless they wanted to see their children die from lack of medical care and primitive conditions and live horrible lives. It's not like they were the last survivors of humanity or anything and fertility is thus important to them.

Not enough? I don't think so. Lets ignore the habitability of the planet because they didn't know.

Lets see. You got 17 people. If we get 3 guys and 14 women. Each of the guys get about 4 women and 2 of them is up for grabs.

So each women will have 3 kids. Which will leave them with 42 kids. If the gender split is 50/50. You'll end up with a population of about 24 men and 38 women. Mix them up again to get 3 kids from each women but avoiding direct incest. You'll get a population of 176 people.

After that it becomes more complicated but I think you'll end up with a situation where people are just one very similar group. We can increase diversity by adding Asians. Light skinned African-Americans should be avoided because they have European DNA. If this works then you'll end up with a new population of Humans. I'll call them Ashkiny in tribute to Ashkenazi Jews who kept it in the family and became very successful.

 

[Star Wolf]

This may sound sexist.... and it is... but...
I'm surprised they didn't pick females because of the fertility factor...

Fertility? You think they were going to have kids? 17 people is not enough to form a sustainable human population. There would be no point in them trying to reproduce and form a permanent colony, unless they wanted to see their children die from lack of medical care and primitive conditions and live horrible lives. It's not like they were the last survivors of humanity or anything and fertility is thus important to them.

Not enough? I don't think so. Lets ignore the habitability of the planet because they didn't know.

Lets see. You got 17 people. If we get 3 guys and 14 women. Each of the guys get about 4 women and 2 of them is up for grabs.

So each women will have 3 kids. Which will leave them with 42 kids. If the gender split is 50/50. You'll end up with a population of about 24 men and 38 women. Mix them up again to get 3 kids from each women but avoiding direct incest. You'll get a population of 176 people.

After that it becomes more complicated but I think you'll end up with a situation where people are just one very similar group. We can increase diversity by adding Asians. Light skinned African-Americans should be avoided because they have European DNA. If this works then you'll end up with a new population of Humans. I'll call them Ashkiny in tribute to Ashkenazi Jews who kept it in the family and became very successful.

I didn't get the feeling anybody was thinking "lets set up a colony". It was more like lets give some people a chance for SG-1 to eventually rescue them.

 

[Bluesteel]

Fertility? You think they were going to have kids? 17 people is not enough to form a sustainable human population. There would be no point in them trying to reproduce and form a permanent colony, unless they wanted to see their children die from lack of medical care and primitive conditions and live horrible lives. It's not like they were the last survivors of humanity or anything and fertility is thus important to them.

Not enough? I don't think so. Lets ignore the habitability of the planet because they didn't know.

Lets see. You got 17 people. If we get 3 guys and 14 women. Each of the guys get about 4 women and 2 of them is up for grabs.

So each women will have 3 kids. Which will leave them with 42 kids. If the gender split is 50/50. You'll end up with a population of about 24 men and 38 women. Mix them up again to get 3 kids from each women but avoiding direct incest. You'll get a population of 176 people.

After that it becomes more complicated but I think you'll end up with a situation where people are just one very similar group. We can increase diversity by adding Asians. Light skinned African-Americans should be avoided because they have European DNA. If this works then you'll end up with a new population of Humans. I'll call them Ashkiny in tribute to Ashkenazi Jews who kept it in the family and became very successful.

I didn't get the feeling anybody was thinking "lets set up a colony". It was more like lets give some people a chance for SG-1 to eventually rescue them.

I got the feeling of "lets cut our losses and save some".

 

[Lindley]

She hasn't been portrayed as that sort so far.

"That sort" is pretty much any Human Being with breath in their lungs.

Except for me, it seems....

 

[RJDiogenes]

As Star Trek and other shows have demonstrated, it's quite possible to write adult drama without contrived situations, forced conflicts and adolesent cynicism. I like fun adventure, too, but that's not what I'm talking about; I'm talking about real adult drama, not what a teenager thinks adult drama should be.

I appreciate reading your thoughts on this matter, but I'll be honest, I haven't totally gotten what you've been saying. I get a lot of it, but not all of it, not 100%. Maybe up to 95%, but not 100%. Part of what threw me is when you've referenced Atlantis as being a better drama than BSG. If I were doing television and wanted to put together a good drama, Atlantis is exactly what I'd avoid emulating. It's not a show I'd describe as bad, it just doesn't capture the real world feel that I'd want to see in a serious drama or even the sense of awe that I'd want to see in good televised science fiction.

What I probably said was that Atlantis was good Space Opera; as a drama it was fine, I liked the character interactions. It certainly wasn't Star Trek. nuBSG, on the other hand, in my opinion was a dismal failure on just about every level, so technically I suppose I'd consider Atlantis better-- but I don't really compare them in those terms.

Oh, and you should check out the 1994 Stargate movie. You'll get to see how the saga began. It's a more serious SG-1 with different actors and a motion picture budget.

I thought the series was a "re-imagining" of the movie; I'll give it a look when I get the chance.

She hasn't been portrayed as that sort so far.

"That sort" is pretty much any Human Being with breath in their lungs.

Except for me, it seems....

You've never been in that situation.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ And I thought BSG was a monumental success on just about every level. The casting, the acting, the story, the production design, the mythology, the cinematography, the special effects... It had its problems here and there, but it excelled.

Oh well.

Back to Stargate... There were a few minor changes made when the movie went to series, but basically, SG-1 is a continuation of the movie with O'Neil and Daniel Jackson recast. Kurt Russell's O'Neil is quite different from Richard Dean Anderson's, but Michael Shanks does a pretty good imitation of James Spader's Dr. Jackson. When the series was in the planning stages, RDA insisted on playing O'Neill (now with two "L"s) with a bit more humor. As for Carter and Teal'c, they aren't in the movie.

 

[Lindley]

You've never been in that situation.

True, but that's not exactly what I meant. A discussion for elsewhere, really, not directly relevant.

 

[Bluesteel]

You've never seen the film? Holy shit. I've never meet anybody who's watched SG-1 or Atlantis and never seen the film.

It's not that good though. SFX is better then the show but it can't compare to the glory days of SG-1.

 

[Kelthaz]

You've never seen the film? Holy shit. I've never meet anybody who's watched SG-1 or Atlantis and never seen the film.

It's not that good though. SFX is better then the show but it can't compare to the glory days of SG-1.

I saw the film once back when it first came out, so 15 years now? I don't remember anything about it though.

 

[SG-17]

Here is the clip of the Destiny flying in the star.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFgoqzXz-Pg

 

[Brent]

After watching that clip again, I noticed that the music in this new series is really really good

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ Yes it is. And watching the Destiny actually submerge into the ocean of plasma rather than just fly over it was pretty awsome. The only thing missing from that scene was a view from the observation deck.